An autopsy confirmed that the former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill was suffering from brain trauma when he died last year at 63, CNN reported Thursday.
McNeill, who appeared in two Super Bowls for the Vikings, is the latest N.F.L. player to be confirmed to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. C.T.E. is closely associated with the repeated head blows common in boxing, hockey, football and other contact sports.
McNeill played for the Vikings from 1974 to 1985 and died last November from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He suffered from dementia in his later years.